Energy Location/Origin

Eddie and Pablo and I spoke this morning at The Gas conference in Corning. Energy consumption is a world wide issue, and much of it deals with the origins of our energy, so I've posted this wind map to say Thank-You to those of you from many places who attended our panel today. We had a very knowledgable and interesting audience. There was alot to cover! I completely forgot to mention that your state may offer free energy audits for your business....There was a great deal covered, hopefully some of these links will help pick up some of the many threads we started. I hope you'll post comments join in on this evolving discussion!

   The theme of my shop is, Putting lost heat back to work!

Fourty to fifty percent of the heat in my garage is donated by the pipe warmer, which is situated below the garage.

   Here is a better picture of how I heat my water heater with the furnace.  Flue heat from the furnace typically goes out of the shop through the chimney in my roof.  When I close the primary damper the heat is forced through duct work up through the water heater core.  The water heater essentially becomes the Flue/chimney. This system works great! The draw backs that I did not anticipate, are the corrosive nature of  the flue gases, and condensation that occurs from rapid cooling of the flue gases. The burner system for the water heater gets gummed up, and I need to clean it before I use it as a normal water heater again (when the furnace is off).

  Thanks for listening, Pablo

    

 

Wilendorf Forms...by Pablo   &   Carved Silhouettes...by Soto

Here are a few pics of my work.  Eddie thought it might be a good idea to remind people that we really do blow glass with the equipment we have made....... I try!

electricity:

This image needs to be clicked on to see all the fine print.

You'll see at first glance a few things:
A "delivery charge" in this instance it is 330.06 The remainder of the bill is 744.10 That is the energy we actually used.

You'll also see a the bottom a breakdown of Kilowatt hours used.

Demand Charge:
What is this "delivery charge"? The center of the bill breaks this down as a service charge (24.62) delivery service(59.70) then the Demand Charge. That's the key here. The demand charge is based your largest power draw at any time. If for instance you decide first thing in the morning (during peak use hours) to turn on your annealer bring up the temp of your electric furnace, and run every piece of equipment simultaneously you will be drawing a lot of power at once. Our power company purchases power from other companies : they don't produce it they are brokers. They need to know how much we might need at our highest demand to keep our supply steadily available.
Here's the rub: say for instance I turn the studio off for June to save money. I get a big order mid-june and decide to start up my studio June 30th. I turn the shop on, my tv and radio and computer are all on...my frig, and then decide to spend an hour running my cold shop equipment until the hot shop is ready...I've got everything on! I blow glass one day in that 30 day period. Because of the demand charge I will pay 300+ dollars just for turning it all on that first hour on that day. Because of this my partner and I now run the studio meter reading to meter reading. If we are anticipating a slow month we make sure the furnace is empty and off by the end of the month. Once the 30 days are passed we wait for the meter reader to show up in his orange truck. The second he has pulled away we turn the shop back on.
Reading the meter:
Our meter runs a series of numbers which can be very helpful in understanding your energy usage. There are different kinds of meters, and your company has you on a specific rate determined by your use. Ours is over 20KW so we are "light industry".
When I'm curious about a piece of equipment or our usage as a whole I go read the meter. Ours is a digital that scrolls a series of numbers. First we see our overall usage...The next number is the "on peak usage". Lets's just say our meter reader rolls in and we've had the hot shop off , our use will be 6KW....if it's been on its closer to 36 KW.
Another interesting aspect of the demand charge is really about a larger demand: the demand you create as a consumer. Energy production is harmful to our enviroment. If we can keep our demand lower by running our studio more efficiently our company Central Maine Power won't buy as much power for us "just in case" we might need it at any given moment, and we lower the demand for feul like oil, propane, and nuclear...This incremental conservation makes a big difference when your running an energy hog like a hot glass studio....
It's not just about saving money, its about the enviroment:
We have become interested in getting a contract with a green energy company. You don't have to buy your own solar panels or wind farm to be green. We have a choice of suppliers and can sign a contract with them to become your provider. My friend Guy Marsden who warms himself in cold maine winters with his solar sub-floor heating (his back up when the sun is scarce is propane), negotiated a contract with a wind company for his electricity. At the time of our conversation he paid about 2-3 cent more per KWh, but his contract was for several years. His reasoning was that his conscious dictates a more enviromentally sound energy plan, and that as oil prices rise will actually end up paying less for green energy.
It's not just about the money: You can also buy "carbon credits" to offset your use. These credits support the companies that are turning into you locally available non-polluting energy supplier.
Sources do dictate cost and are relative given geopolitical and economic enviroments. Our most recent bill which you see above is about 1000.00 For that same energy use we have paid as much as 1400.00 I think that the drop of demand for oil and the subsequent drop in cost is what is responsible for that...

Below you'll see (again click on image to enlarge) a "uniform disclosure statement" that the state of Maine is required to share with us. It shows air emissions per megawatt hour and how what we receive compares with the New England avg.. On the left you'll see where our power comes from. We receive a minimum of 30% of our power from green sources. It this disclosure you'll see that exceed Maine's minimum requirement. These green source are mostly hydro, but also from municipal waste, Bio mass, "fossil fuel cogeneration" (?).... The remainder is not so friendly featuring: Nuclear at almost 30%, Gas at 34% Oil and coal at 9.3%...This is what is known as "standard offer".


We would love to switch over to enviromentally friendlier means of powering our shop. Over the next month I'll be looking into energy suppliers that will help us do that.
In the meantime our method stays the same: to try to be conservative with energy (the above method of having the shop on in monthly increments is one way we do this), and use the money saved to further invest in future efficiency.
On a personal note we recently had an energy audit done of our home and discovered that with upgrades we could easily cut our fuel consumption there in half. The energy audit was incredible testing not only how well our house held heat but also the efficiency of the furnace, the stove, the frig...all energy usage in the house. They also took a look at how moisture and CO2 were carried out of the house: air quality.

On another note: has anyone seen "Kilowatt Ours" ?

molton and green...

This recent nytimes article has an interesting array of technologies shown in a variety of productions. This one hints a bit at pyrolysis.....

Hello Everyone,

This is Pablo Soto tuning in for the first time on Energy and Atmosphere.  I'll be joining Eddie and Terrill this summer at the Glass Arts Society  conference to discuss our efforts, ideas, practices, and possibilities for reducing our energy consumption. 

    I currently run my own glass studio in Penland, NC.  As we all know, it can cost a fortune to work in glass.  I was fortunate to begin my business at the Energy Exchange in Burnsville, NC. I credit this opportunity for the existence of my business. The Energy Exchange( www.energyexchange.org ) offers  residencies in glass and ceramics, and it's facilities are powered by methane gas. It was this experience that jump started my desire to build an energy efficient shop.  

     My efforts to do so came in different stages. First, was the air flow of the studio. A small space needs to breath! I'll post some photos that illustrate how I went about it. Air flow went hand in hand with the use of natural light. For most of the day, I really don't need to turn on the lights.  Another supposed "green" effort, was steel scavenging . At least sixty percent of the steel I used in my equipment is recycled steel  (I loved working at a dump).  When I designed/built my furnace I decided to incorporate a recuperating burner system built by Hugh Jenkins.  I have been very happy with my gas sipping furnace, and recently retrofitted my glory hole with the same system(more details/data to come).  All gas fired furnaces have flues/chimneys. I've been using flue exhaust to heat the H2O in our water heater which is used for radiant floor heat on my wife's side of the shop. This is done by ducting the exhaust up and through the core of the water heater.  My other efforts to make efficient equipment have been very simple. For example, tight fitting doors, and good insulation can't be beat.

    In closing, I would just say.... that as crafts people/artists it's our job to get crafty, creative, and pull out a little bit of ingenuity. I hope these ideas and descriptions come across clearly........Pablo 

         

Greetings:

A little bit about myself:
Terrill, 38 years old currently living and blowing glass in a salt box barn. Interested in energy issues (sustainability), permaculture gardening...and of course glass-blowing.
This year we heated our house off our glass studio quite well. Other sources of heat are : wood stove, passive solar, and old oil furnace. We don't have any systems intentionally installed that hold or transfer the heat, it just rises (we live above the shop). We do have a 6 inch thick cement pad that the building sits on. This acts as a great heat sink. Were we to insulate better we would get a much bigger bump off of passive solar, and nearly eliminate the use of the oil furnace completely.
We removed some walls in the front of our studio recently and took the opportunity to upgrade our insulation there to cellulose. It gets blown into the space, is non-toxic, and a great sound barrier. It is much more efficient than fiberglass.
This has been an example of how we are working when able to be less dependent on fossil fuels: approaching the issue from all angles, leveraging fastest payback on investment with the intent to reinvest the savings in further energy conscious adaptations. First and foremost (and usually overlooked) is: Conservation and intelligent use of energy. It is the fastest "payback" for your efforts. We are working on our house and living habits as a well as our studio because there are opportunities for big gains to be had from small changes throughout our life. In dealing with our house we have done alot of research into the fastest payback period on an energy efficient upgrades with the intent to reinvest the subsequent savings in further improvements . Our overall approach: go at the issue of energy conservation from all angles picking things off your list that give you the greatest savings for the least effort. Take on larger projects as you are able.
Other approaches include: Recycling, designing for resources. Buying energy from green companies (wind/solar)....
One quick thing: propane has dropped in cost recently and our electric bill accordingly...Eddie had mentioned part of his inspiration for energy and atmosphere was overall atmosphere: creative, political, etc. Since having that conversation the economy has become a big part of that enviroment: lack of industrial demand creates a surplus of energy and the prices for it drop...
Another aspect of this enviroment has become the massive tax stimulus for projects like this. Above federal tax dollars available for energy efficiency you may have significant state incentives available. Maine for instance (where i'm living) is working out a 3000.00 cash back incentive for every 10,000.00 dollars spent. That is above and beyond the federal incentives. Again check what's available in your state, for us there are great deals for new home heating furnaces and e-windows, doors and insulation.
If like myself you had a significant loss of income in the past year, and don't have a profit to write these costs off against you may consider doing it simply because of what future costs might do to your business. Ask yourself: could you do business if your energy costs were 10 x what they are now? One local friend at the mid-coast green energy collective suggested working out a contract with a local green energy co. He told me that his power comes from wind. It is provided through our local co., we are able to broker deals were we know that our power comes from wind or solar. In his case he pays 2-3 cents more now per kilo watt hour, however in the event that costs spike in the next few years he may actually be paying less than electricity created with coal because his contract hold a that price....
Hope this isnt' too jumbled! I wanted to get some conversation started..

Best,
Terrill

Hi Terrill and Pablo

Hey Y'all,

Just writing so Terrill isn't the only one.

Let's start talking about what we will discuss at the conference as well as what images make sense to show. I'm also thinking about adding one more person.

Eddie

Hi!